Wall covering



J. TOMEC WALL COVERING Nov. 23 1937.

Filed June l, 1935 Patented Nov. 23, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 4 Claims.

My invention relates to wall coverings and particularly to wall coverings of a durable and washable character having a highly decorative and novel appearance.

The walls of a room are usually provided with a Wooden baseboard and with wall paper or tinted surfaces extending from the baseboard to the ceiling or to a picture moulding. The wall paper and tinted surfaces soon become dirty or marred, especially when children are about, and therefore the paper has to be replaced frequently or the walls retinted. This continual renewal o-r redecoration of rooms and walls is expensive and inconvenient, particularly in premises that are rented and which must be renovated for each new tenant.-

These disadvantages are partially overcome when the room is provided with wainscoting or wood panelling but such constructions are expensive to install and are not usually desirable for use in bedrooms, nurseries and in many other places.

In accordance with my invention diculties rand disadvantages'of the prior art are overcome by the use of material of a durable character resistant to wear and abrasion and presenting a decorative surface which preferably is capable of being washed or cleaned to restore its attractive appearance. 'Ihe product may be made with a portion to simulate a baseboard together with one or more portions simulating wood panelling, wainscoting o-r wall paper in any combination or design desired. My invention is particularly adapted for use in renovating, inexpensive house developments and repair work where a saving in time, labor and expense is of importance, The elements of the wall covering may be formed separately but I prefer to include por-v tions representing two or more of such elements in a single piece.

In the preferred embodiment of'my invention the material is made in the form of a strip or panel which may extend from the ceiling to the Hoor or to the baseboard of a room if such is used. However, the strips may only extend to a picture moulding or to the edge of existing wainscoting, tile or other wall construction. The strips may conveniently be made with a suitable base of water-proof or impregnated material such as water-proof, or treated paper or light and flexible asphalt saturated felt although the invention is also capable vof* application to other flexible materials or to rigid materials such as ber boards, pulp board, plaster board, cement-asbestos product, plywood or the like, I may thus provide either a very light and exible inexpensive product or a rigid one having a veneer which may be formed of relatively expensive material or constructed to possess heat or sound insulating properties.

'I'he surface of the material which is exposed when the strips are in place and to which novel decorative effects may be given may be formed in any suitable manner and preferably is provided with a coating of water resistant and dura- 10 ble material such as enamel or lacquer adapted to be applied in a printing operation. The strips are preferably provided with borders on the ends thereof which are to be located adjacent the floor and ceiling of the room, these borders being diierent in appearance, formation, or character from that portion of the strip between the same. For example, the border on that end of the strip which is to be located adjacent the oor may be treated to simulate a section of a baseboard while the borderlocated on the opposite end of the strip may serve as a ceiling border. While either or both borders may be formed by the vuse of a portion which is thicker or thinner than the remainder of the strip or otherwise formed to give the desired elect, I prefer to form the borders simply by printing or otherwise applying water resistant material to that portion of Ythe strip adjacent the ends thereof, in order to give the borders the desired design or appearance.

Strips of material formed as described may be readily applied to the walls of rooms having ceilings of diierent heights without detracting from the appearance of the wall covering and without sacricing the advantages of the material. For instance by forming the borders at the ends of the strips of the greatest width consistent with good design a portion of either or both borders may be trimmed o to shorten the strip and enable it to be applied to the walls of rooms having relatively low ceilings. Furthermore the wall covering may be used in rooms which do not have baseboards or may be used to replace the baseboards previously employed by forming the lower border to simulate the baseboard. A substantial saving in the cost of building or renovating premises may thereby be eiected without sacrifice to the appearance or durability of the wall covering. If, however, a baseboard is a1- ready provided and is to be used the lower border of the strip may be trimmed off without affecting the design carried by the main body of the strip or detracting from the usefulness of the material. It is also possible to remove a section from the body of the material adjacent either asingle set of printing blocks.

or both borders to adapt the Wall covering for use in very low rooms, such as recreation rooms in basements or attics. e Y e A particular feature of my invention resides in the fact that the product may beA produced by printing operations either on an ordinaryY at e bed, block printing machine or by'the'use of roll printing operations. When using block printing machines of the type now-'used for printingfelt. base oor coveringsI may takeadvantage of the fact thatsuch machines are usually made nine feet or more in width to print felt base rugs measuring 9 by 12 feet or 6 by 9 feet. These machines are therefore adapted for printing wall covering material embodying myinven-l readily producedby Vsimple printing operationsY in which the whole design, including baseboard, wainscoting, wallpaper and ceiling border portions ingany `desired arrangement, may be printed Y or applied to each strip or panel while using only A complete design can: thus be `applied-'toi each Vsuccessivesec- Ation of ra web Vof'.rnaterial-orV to each of a-series of successivesheets or vunits of eitherV flexible .or

rigid material'asthey are passed-through the ma- Y chine. VThe web of material or the units may Vthereafterbe severed transversely as vnecessary or Vdesired to form strips which are A9 feet in length and 18 -inches-invwidthor of other dimensions corresponding to those of. one or more of theprinting blocks used in printing the -material. "1

If preferred caches-portion of the design'Y :may

be lprinted by a diiferent set of blocks, ,in which case those-blocks Which-carry the baseboardl and ythe wainscoting portion of vthe design may have cut or embossed areas'which are relatively small sojthatr the cost'of. -cutting the blocks will be much less vthan in ordinary operations 'wherein the design 4eX-tendsover a large area-of the block.

Furthermore, Ythe Ysame baseboard and wainscoting `design'can be used with a" great variety of wall paper designs and therefore by changing only one -setV of comparatively `inexpensive print- Y ingfblocksv a large-section of designs canbeY produeea.-

`Material embodyingmy invention and having Y 7 arigid nbase may be'applied'directly to thestudding when constructing or renovating inexpenl. sive :buildings to` provide .a durable wallcover- *ing having avery attractive appearance.

The studdingsordinarily are 4erected only 16 inches apart .and therefore the strips should'be .only 16 inches in Widthso that the edges of each'strip will lrest Von Vthe studding. vBy. using printing blocksfcarrying -a design only 16 inches in width an unprinted marginal edge one inch in yfividth will tbeV left on .each Yside of the printed area `of eaehsheet orfunit. These Yunprinted edges Vwill be f trimmed Aoff Yin applying the strips so .that an Vacizcratet vcan be obtained between adjacent strips and great Ycare and accuracy in severing or .forming the -edges of sheets or `units is rnot required..l Moreover @any damage to the dgesof i .Fig illustrates arigid construction ing my invention. Y 1 1 the strips will be of Vnoconsequence andma.- terials which otherwise would have to be Vdiscarded canbe used effectively.

When printing, embossing or otherwise form- Y Y ing the material by means of a roller the web,

lengths or unitsV ofV the` materialmay `loefpassed through the rolls so as tobe printed roreformed Y either lengthwise of a narrow web or transversely of a Wide web from which they may be severed or separated. Since the rnaterialused-need only. be comparativelyV narrow I may use scrap products or waste material from rug makingjsheet tions. y

In Lapplying material embodying my inventionY gforming or fiber-board manufacturing opera- .Y

to Walls or ceilings, it may besecured in place by Y any lsuitable means such as cleats,v strips or nails but I .prefer to secure the material to surfaces by a cementing agent such as a high melting point pitch or asphaltlor other plastic or liquid setting material. 4The cementing `agent may be-carried by-the strips or panels'themselves and applied tothe reverse or unprintedsiderthereof so that itis only necessary `for Ythe user to.

meisten the material with water o r a solventor to heat the cement agent before applying Vthe material to a surface. tion and use-of paste, cement and the like usually necessary with wall paper'and may ythusloe avoided.V f

In order that my invention may be more clearl ly understood I haveiillustrated'the'same `in the floor coverings The troublesome selec-- figures of .the accompanying drawing as applied l to strips of material adapted torbe printedzon-a -at bed, block .printing machine'althoughrit willV be apparent that Vmy inventionis not confined to its-use with such material or to the useof such printing operations since Yany' well known print` ing `process .usingrolls or .hand operations may be used.

In the drawing; Y f Fig. 1 is a perspective of'material from which it may be formed.

of a strip. of materialY embodying Ymy invention indicatingythe relation" of said-strip 'together similar Yst'ripsin, a web` y Y Fig..2 is a diagrammatic representationfof one iormjof apparatus adapted for use in preducing the jmaterial.

Fig. 3 is an lenlarged sectional viewof the material ras applied to a surface. v

face layer of the Ymaterial and embody- In that form of my invention chosen for purposes .of illustration rin Figs. 1 and?, the material Fig. -4 illustrates Van alternative form of sur-l f comprises a strip 2 ofv material such as water-Y proofasbestos or impregnated paper, pulp board?` f asphalt'saturated felt-orthelilre.` VThestri-psmay Y Y so Y ofthe material transversely along lineV 5 or byA severing the Vweb or sheet at longer intervals.

be formed by severingv a relatively -long V.Web 4 When `:the article is Lproduced-from a'narrow web. .To one vsurface of the material a waterproof enamel-or other suitabledecorative substance of a durable nature is Aapplied asindicated generally at 6.1 The material is printedY Vorotherwise: j

strip which as illustrated-simulatesa Abaiseboard while the opposite endeof the material'is pro-Y vided with a border iof the type designed tobe` formed Ytoprovide a border YV on onee'ndof theV l located adjacent the ceiling :of a room. Thei'` body of the-strip between iheib'order's .a anais is provided with' a surface ,layer I2 in 'agdesign' Whchsirnulatesrordinary l'wall paper whereas the 4portion 1470i the water resistant layer is formed to simulate wainscoting. If preferred the por# tion l2 having a wall paper design may extend all the way from the border 8 to the border IllV and in some instances even the border I0 may be omitted. It may also be desirable at times to provide the strip with a uniform design throughout, omitting bo-th borders but ordinarily this type of design is not so desirable since many of the advantages of the product are thereby sacriced. It will be evident that the design may be varied as desired to form the material for use as a substitute for wall paper, wood panelling, wainscoting, tile or any other part orv all of the forms of wall coverings now in use.

In printing the material on a flat bed block printing machine of the type commonly employed in producing felt base rugs a web A of the materialo-r successive preformed units forming the base member are passed from a roll I or yother feed device at the right hand end of the machine as shown in Fig. 2 and are moved over the bed I8 of the machine and beneath each of a number of printing blocks 20, 22, etc. represented diagrammatically in the drawing. Each of the blocks will ordinarily extend the full width of the machine, as in standard practice, so as to print one of the celors'of a complete design on a strip to be cut transversely from the web or on alunit having passed over the bed I8. The web of material or the unit after being printed by the first block 20 is moved forward in a step by step movement so as to bring that strip or unit of the material into registration beneath a succeeding printing block 22 while a succeeding section or unit is being printed by the first block. The first block 20 prints one portion or one color of the design whereas the second block 22 applies a different color or a different portion of the design on the same section of material or unit in the interval between every alternate forward movement of the material. After being printed by the second block the material is moved on to bring each strip or section into position beneath `each of the other blocks on the machine until all of the colors or the whole design has been printed.

When the material is formed from a web having transversely printed designs, such as that presented in Fig. 1, applied thereto and preferably vvith a complete design printed on each section thereof, the web is then passed on to a cutting device represented at 24 which severs the web transversely on the lines 5 between each section of the material or between each completed design. The material may be dried or cured before it is cut or the web may be cut in transverse strips as soon as completely printed. The strips or units preferably have substantially the same dimensions as the blocks by which they are printed but they may be made of any desired length or width adapted for use in applying the same to a wall of a room.

Strips of material having a design' such as that of Fig. 1 may be trimmed at either end to shorten the same or may be severed along one or more of the lines 26, 28 and 30 to remove a portion of a section of the material if it is to be applied to a room with a very low ceiling. Thus material having the same design may be appliedV to rooms varying greatly in height whilee preserving the benefit of a single unit embodying various elements of a wall covering.

In securing the material to the walls of a building or to other surfaces as illustrated in Fig.

3 I prefer to use a cementing agent shown at 32 which may be carried by the material itself or applied directlyV to the surface of a wall 3d. The strips are placed with their,z adjacent edges 36 abutting and are pressed onto the wall to insure rm and permanent application thereof to the surface. However, the strips may of course be secured in place by any other suitable means without departing from my invention.

By the use of material formed with designs and borders in the manner described, the strip may be made of a standard size while at the same time it is applicable for use in rooms varying greatly in height. The material may be printed with a wood panelled effect to adapt it for use in dining rooms, libraries and elsewhere where such constructions are desirable but have heretofore been very expensive. By the use of a different design material of the same type may be applied to bedrooms, nurseries, bathrooms, kitchens or elsewhere where it is desired to provide a durable, washable wall surface which does not have to be frequently renewed and which retains its attractive appearance under severe usage.

As illustrated in Fig. 4 the borders, gures or elements of design may be raised as to 38, sunken as at 40, or produced by the application of separate members to the base member as at 42. The surface layer also may be given a raised or embossed effect by a second printing operation, using printable material of a heavier or different character or! by an embossing or other operation as desired.

In embodying my invention in a rigid construction in the manner shown in Fig. 5 the base material may consist of a preformed board such as cement-asbestos products or those products marketed under the trade names Celotex, Beaverboard, etc. Material formed as described above by which the design and effect are carried may be applied directly to a surface of the rigid base material 44. The latter form of product is adapted for use in forming a finished decorated wall, avoiding the use of lath and plaster or for use in erecting light and inexpensive partitions or surfaces which have anattractive appearance but which may easily be put in place and removed. Ordinarily, however, I prefer to form the material as a flexible product of light weight and simple construction with one or more of the strips in a piece.

While I have illustrated and described certain preferred forms of wall covering embodying my invention it will be evident that it is capable of various modifications in form, structure and design to adapt it for use in any of a great variety of structures, rooms and buildings and for various purposes.

What I claim is: l

1. A preformed wall covering of variable length adapted to be applied to the walls of' rooms of dierent height comprising a unit of greater length than width embodying a base member an tarea without `irnpairing the` designV on 'the remainder .of :said areas `whereby wallcovering shorter in length than said Vunit but containing each o'f said :designs may vbe' produced from said '2. A preformed wall covering of variable length adapted to be applied to the walls of rooms of diiierent hcight'rcomprising a unit vof `greater' length than widthembodying a strip of asphalt saturated felt having water resistant decorative material applied :to adjacent iareas vand in individually complete .designs arranged lengthwise ofY said strip in predetermined relation and vwith the edges of said areas vextending inrsucstantially straight lines ltransversely of said strip,

A said Adecora-tive `niaterial being applied to adjacen-t areas of the'loase membervinY the .form of different designs, the designsof said material onV each of said Aareas simulating a conventional type ofwall covering and the designs on adjacent areasY pairing Ythe design on'the remainder of said Vareas whereby wall covering shorter in length vthan said unit but containing each of said designs may be produced from said unit.

3. A preformedwall covering .of Variable length adapted to ybe applied to the walls of rooms cf different ,height comprising a unit ofgreater albanais y Y length than `Width said una embodying Vla. rigid base memberhaving a layerof waterproof decoracomplete designs arranged in predetermined relation and each simulating a differenttype ofcon.-V 1 Y Vventional wall covering, saidunit being severable' f Y .along the edgesrof said areas to remove apart or all of an area Without impairing the design .on

the remainderof said areas whereby wallcover-Y ing shorter .in .length thanisaidunit but containing each of Vsaid designs. may lbe'produced from saidunit.v

4. A preformed Wall .covering ofgvariable length .adapted toA be applied tothe -walls .of rooms cfV f' different heightV comprising ya unit of greater length than width embodyinga YbaseV `member Vland having water resistantdecorative material unit, the decorativematerial applied to an area adjacent one end of the-unit being .Y arranged to simulate woodwork and .the decorative material applied toanother area being arranged to simu- V late .a diierent type of conventional wallrcover ing material whereby wall covering Vshorter-fin length than saidunit .but containing each cfsaid i designs may be produced fromsaid unit.

I JOHN Tonnie.'Y 

